<p>When you apply for financial aid, does it affect your chances of admittance? do colleges care about how much you will pay?<br>
Basically, will they possibly accept a slightly worse candidate who is going to pay full tuition over a slightly better candidate requesting whatever amount of financial aid?</p>
<p>thankies</p>
<p>Sorry, but there is no definitive answer. For some schools, it makes no difference … for others it does make a difference. You need to do research for each school.</p>
<p>how about the Top schools? Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Upenn, Stanford?</p>
<p>HYPS and UPenn are need blind schools, I believe. The applications folks do not know your financial need. I don’t believe there is any edge in admissions for full pays at need blind schools.</p>
<p>If the schools are need aware (perhaps one of these is)…that would mean that admissions DOES have some indication of how much you can pay. For the above schools IF you have the stats to get into these schools anyway, being a full pay MIGHT give you an edge. However, these competitive schools have a plentiful supply of applicants with competitive stats and competitive family finances. If you are hoping your ability to pay will compensate for less than stellar stats, my guess is they won’t.</p>
<p>The only time you can really expect “Need Aware” policies to come into effect is when you are on the bubble. For example…</p>
<p>Two students are on the wait list at a college. The admissions representatives are deciding who to give those last few offers of admission to. Student A will require $30,000 in financial aid in order to afford the school. Student B qualifies for only $5,000 in a federal loan. The students are equally matched in all aspects, except financial need.</p>
<p>Remember, these two students are on the wait list. That means these decisions are being made late in the admissions cycle and the vast majority of financial aid dollars have already been distributed to other students. So would it make sense to offer one of the few last remaining spots to student A, knowing that the school does not have the money to help the student? Or does it make more sense to make the offer to student B who is far more likely to be able to pay the bill?</p>
<p>Although Need Sensitive admission policies may seem unfair at first glance, they are the only logical and fair policy for colleges that do not have unlimited resources.</p>
<p>thanks scootta!</p>
<p>Those schools that are need blind do not care. Those that are need aware do. It’s not always easy to know if a school is need aware and how need aware they are.</p>
<p>I have known kids who have gotten their best financial aid packages from schools that are need aware and/or do not meet 100% of need. If a particular school really wants you, if you fit what they need that year, they have a lot of leeway. The only advice I have for those who need aid and are eying schools that do not give a lot of aid in general, is to make sure you also include some schools on your list where you would have a good chance of admission and decent aid packages. </p>
<p>Many times, even schools that are need blind for most purposes, are not for transfer students, wait list students and other categories.</p>